Gravity Falls: How to Burn a Pine Tree

Part 10: Dipper

Darkness...empty stomach...pains and aches throughout my body...tears stain my cheeks...random, stomach churning voices echoing around in my head.

You're useless...pathetic. The world will be in better hands when Bill rules. Give in to him now, and your future fate may be put on hold.

The voice cooed.

"No," I whispered, my hands in fists, tightly gripping my auburn brown hair.

Yes...

The voice continued.

Think about it. What's there left of you now? If you die, Mabel and the others won't need to come and rescue you. Thus, keeping them out of danger.

I sniffled. I can't give in. Whoever's voice this is...wants me to give in. It wants me to give up. But I won't. I can't. No matter how broken I fell right now I have to get up and keep pushing forwards. I need to find a way out.

I groaned and squeezed my eyes shut.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8-" Wait a minute. "Fantastic..."
I muttered, crossing my arms. "I can't even count straight anymore! I haven't even been here for to long and I'm already losing my mind." I growled and gripped my hair.
But then I started thinking about the journals.

There's gotta be something in them that Ford recorded to help defeat Bill right? Well, from what I remembered about the journals, and according to the journal, Ford had only encountered Bill once. He had wrote down some sort of circle thing, with ten symbols around it and Bill in the center of it.

Other notes of Bill and other paranormal creatures came in a few pages after Bill's stuff but after that the pages were blank. That lead to were I had began keeping track of the paranormal in the journal.

The blank pages were partly filled in with my discoveries. I smiled at the thought but then frowned when I thought about how long ago it had been since the beginning of summer.

"Oh, Pine Tree!!!" A voice sang, in a way to bubbly and bright voice. Within a fraction of a second, Bill Cipher appeared in front of me. I felt myself shrink up and as I tried to make myself as tiny as possible, stupidly hoping that Bill would forget him here and go away.

"Oh Pine Tree, I'm so exited for world domination!!" He laughed maniacally and I cringed. His voice was so loud it just bounced off of the cell walls, pounding themselves into my ears.I'm surprised I haven't gone deaf by now. My breathing remained shaky and uneven. Counting as I've said before does help me keep my sanity.

Well...whatever sanity I have left that is.

Bill was ranting about what he was going to do once he took over the world when his eye landed on me.

"Thinkin' about those dumb journals are we Pine Tree?" He asked and I glared at him.
"They're not dumb!" I spat back in a voice that was barley audible to hear. "Pine Tree, Pine Tree, Pine Tree..." Bill said waving his finger in a scolding way. "The journals are gone kid, so get your mind off of them. Dwelling in the past will do you no good." Bill cockily remarked. I glared at him.

"Giving me the silent treatment I see? Eh, no matter. You'll be dead shortly and I'll have all of the silence I can ever want. But until then, I still need something from you. Surely old Poindexter would trust his soon-to-be apprentice with it more then anyone else!" Bill exclaimed and I frowned, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Ford didn't tell me anything Bill. Now leave me be!" I yelled. "Oh, you do talk! Well I'll be!" Bill laughed again and I crossed my arms.
I continued to glare at him.

"You're hilarious Pine Tree, ya know that? But anyways, enough beating around the bush. Only my demon friends, Poindexter, you and I know this, kid. Unfortunately because of some weird anomaly thing that Gravity Falls has around it, it keeps me trapped in here, unable to leave. Ford knows a formula to break the shield that's keeping me bound to this stupid town. He refused to give it to me. But when you offered to trade yourself for him, it made me think, Poindexter surely trusts Pine Tree!"

Bill exclaimed.

"So of course Pine Tree would know formula! Without hesitation I offered you the deal and you took it, not knowing what I truly wanted out of it. I'm going to get you to tell me that formula Pine Tree. Unlike Poindexter, you don't have a protective shield around your mind, meaning I can do a mind scan and find what I want. It was a much simpler option then waiting for Fordsy to spill the beans."

Bill shrugged and I looked at him with pure confusion.

"Now are you going to tell me the formula or not Pine Tree? Because if not, I have ways of making you crack until you tell me." Bill threatened. My heart began to race. Formula? What formula? Ford never told me about any formula that kept Bill bound to Gravity Falls. Heck, Ford never told me that Bill would be trapped in the Falls!

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." I shakily replied.

Bill gave a laugh, trying to contain his annoyance and waved his hands in dismissal. "Sure ya do, kid. Poindexter must've told you. So you can tell me, or people are going to get hurt." Bill threatened. My eyes widened and I felt my hands get clammy. Then I remembered our deal and I smirked. "You can't hurt the townsfolk Bill! It's in our deal! You break the deal and I'm free to leave!"

I shot back wisely.

Bill mumbled the deal to himself again, looking for loopholes or something to counter me with. Then he huffed in frustration and replied with, "Fine Pine Tree. You may have a point but I will find other ways to get you to speak. If you decide you don't want to find out what those other ways are then just call for me. I have places to be and deals to make. Remember that reality is an illusion and the universe is a hologram! Buy gold, bye!"

Bill then snapped his fingers and I looked away, squeezed my eyes shut as he disappeared in a flash of blinding light. When I was sure it was safe to look, I peeled my eyes open and I've done multiple times before, I pulled my knees to my chest and wrested my forehead on them.

So many thoughts swarmed threw my head I couldn't keep them all straight. I couldn't believe that Wendy, Stan and Ford were coming to save me...Why would they risk their lives for someone like me? Especially Wendy? I thought she didn't like me....

I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. I wondered why Mabel wasn't apart of their rescue team. I wanted to know if she was okay.
I mean, she probably wasn't but I wanted to see her.

I just hoped that we could take down Bill once and for all. And at the least cost as well. I've now drawn a conclusion that this was going to be war. And I was apart of it...whether I liked it or not.

I was just a rebel, playing my part in this rebellion.